Sexual abuse of disabled rises every year: police report

Amid rising outrage over the true story of school officials molesting deaf students as depicted in the hit movie "The Crucible," a police report said Friday that sexual crimes against the disabled has increased over the last four years.

In the report submitted to Rep. Park Dae-hae of the ruling Grand National Party, The National Police Agency reported 320 such cases last year, up from 199 in 2007, 228 in 2008, and 293 in 2009. Over the first eight months of this year, the number reached 385, exceeding that for all of last year.

Between 2007 and this year, Busan had the biggest number of cases with 225, followed by Seoul with 209, Gyeonggi Province 204, and North Chungcheong Province 103. Gwangju, where the school depicted in the movie is located, had 39 cases.

Busan also had 69 cases of sex crimes against the disabled per one million people, the highest ratio in the country.

Police arrested suspects in 94.5 percent of the cases over the last five years. South Gyeongsang Province showed the lowest arrest rate of 81.3 percent, while Seoul police arrested suspects in just 88 percent of cases.

Rep. Park proposed the lifting of the statute of limitations for those involved in sex crimes against the disabled. He also suggested that welfare facilities for the disabled be included in the list of jobs banned for convicted child sex offenders.

nov@donga.com